Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Signs made with bike boxes, used billboard vinyl and an overhead projector. They are intended as free political speech and placed on public property in accordance with rights granted under the First Amendment. The use of public property for the purpose of free political speech (placed in a safe, non-permanent fashion) is open to everyone."There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it." -Havelock Ellis"To know what is right and not to do it is the worst cowardice. " -Confucious"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission." -Grace Hopper"The absence of risk is a sure sign of mediocrity. " -Charles de Foucauld

Monday, July 28, 2008

"Either war is obsolete or men are." -R. Buckminster Fuller"What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" -Mahatma Gandhi"You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake." -Jeannette Rankin"War is god for the economy like cannibalism is nutritious." -Freewayblogger (usually attributed to George Bernard Shaw)"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -Albert Einstein"The only winner in the War of 1812 was Tchaikovsky." -Solomon Short

Saturday, July 26, 2008

I left Orange County around noon, putting up signs in support of the Kucinich/Conyers hearings in Washington DC. The hearings centered on the Bush administration's abuses of power, including sanctioning torture, lying the country into an unnecessary and illegal war, ignoring the Constitution they were sworn to uphold and illegally spying on the nation at large. Since Bush and Cheney's list of crimes did not include lying about a blowjob, they've gone largely ignored by the media.

These first signs were placed along the 405 north and southbound on my way to LA, all of them were still up at the end of the day and were seen by about one hundred thousand people.

These two signs (above and below) were placed in a not-very-well-sealed overpass by LAX. Although I didn't have a chance to check back on them, if they lasted through the day that would add another hundred thousand or so viewers to the total.

Although technically not a freeway, I put the above sign up on La Cienega just for the hell of it.Heading east on the Santa Monica freeway I saw this sign (above) still up after four days. I attribute its duration to the fact it's relatively unobtrusive and also placed in a (sort of) sealed overpass. Although not very large, it's placement (and anomaly) make it difficult to miss and after four days on the Santa Monica, it was probably read close to half a million times. It took me less than ten minutes to make and cost about a nickel.To compliment it I put up this sign a quarter mile or so later. As it's on a working overpass I figured it'd come down within an hour or two, but it was still up four hours later. I put the sign below up on the Pasadena Freeway, along with a few more on the 5 and the 101.I finished off the day by putting up "Peace" signs like the one below on my way back. By hitting five major freeways I figure I reached close to a million people yesterday. That's a million people who saw political protest on freeways where otherwise they would've seen none.Imagine if there were more of us. Not a lot, just a few... dedicated to using the First Amendment for all it's worth and reaching out to as many people as they could. Imagine if we had that... It wouldn't even matter that we had a spineless congress and a lapdog press: the sheer power of free speech by the people would've ruled the day and this war would've been over before it began. The people who founded this country knew this and that's why they gave us the right to full and unfettered free political speech: the right to say pretty much whatever we want whenever we want to as many people as we can.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

(Signs made with five water heater boxes and an overhead projector.)"Man is by nature a political animal." -Aristotle"The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear, toward others as well as ourselves." -Oscar Arias Sanchez"I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can only teach you not to bow your heads before any one even at the cost of your life." -Mahatma Gandhi

"People don't live nowadays - they get about ten percent out of life." -Isadora Duncan "It matters if you just don't give up." -Stephen Hawking

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

I recently picked up some bike boxes in Santa Cruz and gave them a coat of paint: these signs were up in San Francisco and Berkeley for at least three hours each.

Bike boxes come basically in two parts, side panels and flaps. The side panels make for good large/medium signs, the flaps for smaller, more discreet ones. The signs above took about three hours to make.

Although "Peace" and "Peace on Earth" are relatively toothless messages politically, they do tend to stay up longer than other more partisan or specifically anti-war messages. Nevertheless, there are always critics:I found this by one of my usual spots. I thought it looked funny.

I'll be posting signs in Southern California for the next few days. On Friday I'll be putting up what will probably be the last of what's now been thousands of "Impeach" signs in support of Dennis Kucinich's efforts in DC.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

"Henry Ford sold his cars with advertising. I'm selling peace. Yoko and I are just a big advertising campaign. That might make people laugh, but it also might make them think." -John Lennon"Anyone can love peace, but Jesus didn't say, 'Blessed are the peace-lovers.' He says peacemakers. He is referring to a life vocation, not a hobby on the sidelines of life." -Jim Wallis"We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living." -General Omar Bradley

"One little person, giving all of her time to peace, makes news. Many people, giving some of their time, can make history." -Mildred Lisette Norman"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace." -William Gladstone